What does this changing global context mean for the future of regional cooperation and integration in the Western Balkans? How can one envisage the scenarios for the reorganization of the regional governance framework in the context of global polycrises and momentous security and geopolitical turbulences in Europe and its neighbouring regions?
To address these questions, the reserachers from the Working Package 3 of the MIND Project have published a working paper, titled Old Wine in New Bottles? Good Governance, Misgovernance and Three Scenarios for the Future of Open Balkan-Berlin Process Relationship. By combining insights from the literature on good (enough) governance, the reserachers propose the criteria for assessing the relationship between the EU-initiated and locally-owned regional cooperation initiatives. Based on the criteria of transparency, scope, ownership, sustainability and openness, they further conceptualise and evaluate three scenarios of the OBI-BP relationship. Finally, in line with this assessment, the paper offers recommendations that seek ways to advance OBI/BP governance structures and practices.
The MIND project is led by the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Science, with an aim to bust the myths about the Western Balkans as a perpetual “powder keg” and to provide local and contextual knowledge about security cooperation and peace dynamics in the region. This project was supported by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, grant no. 7744512, Monitoring and Indexing Peace and Security in the Western Balkans – MIND.
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